Refractory brickwork



March 3, 1942. w R MCLAIN I 2,275,083

REFRACTORY BR ICKWORK Filed Aug. 10, 1939 gwdz Hi5 ATT NEY.

Patented Mar. 3, 1942 UNITED (STATES PATENT OFFICE William Rex McLain,Chicago, Ill. Application August 10, 1939, Serial No. 289,509

This invention relates to refractory brickwork such as used in furnacebottoms and particularly in the bottoms of. blast furnaces, although notlimited thereto.

Blast furnace hearths as commonly installed are usually made of standardbrick shapes of fire clay. Experience has shown that a considerablenumber of the standard shapes commonly used in hearth construction floatout of said hearths, thereby decreasing hearth and furnace life, andincreasing the risk of premature furnace shutdowns and the loss ofmetal, and concurrent hazards and costs.

It is an object of this invention to eliminate or materially reducehearth brick flotation.

Another object of this invention is. the provision of a refractorybrickwork which is simple in design and one which is cheap and easy tomanufacture and install.

Still another object is to provide a keying arrangemen'ewhereby all thehorizontal joints in each key course is broken, thereby hindering tosome extent any horizontal flow and penetration.

of molten metal.

The foregoing and other objects will be apparout after referring to thedrawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective of the refractory brickwork of the presentinvention Figure 2 is a perspective of one of the refractory brickswhich make up the brickwork of Fig ure 1; and

Figure 3 is a perspective of one of the elements used to lock therefractory bricks in the positions shown in Figure 1.

Referring more particularly to the drawin the numeral 2 designates aseries of elongated refractory brickswhich are oblong on cross section.The narrower sides of the refractory bricks 2 are transversely slottedadjacent one of their corresponding ends, these slots being rectangularin shape and designated at}. The width of each of the slots 3, asillustrated by the line 4, is the same as the thickness 5 of each of thebricks.

py one of the slots 3 in the bricks 2 and one-half I GIaim. (CI. 72-05)inch x 4.5 inch x 2.25 inch brick will snugly occuof such a small brickwill serve as a key for two of the bricks 2, providing, of course, thelatter with the abutted edges of the bricks in staggered relation withrespect to the abutted edges ofthe bricks of the first row, and so on.

is cited. According to the, construction of the present invention,one-quarter of a standard 9 According to the foregoing construction, thekeys in are one-half of a standard-sized brick while the bricks 2 arestandard in shape except for the keying grooves or slots designated at3. This provides not only for a refractory brickwork which is free fromthe objections referred to hereinoefore, but one which is inexpensivedue to the fact that the bricks have the standard size and shapecharacteristics referred to. All of the horizontal joints formed by thekey bricks II) are broken. 7

While I have shown and described one specific embodiment of the presentinvention, it will be seen that I do not wish to be limited exactlythereto, since various modifications may be made without departing fromthe scope of the invention, as defined by the following claim.

I claim:

In a hearth for supporting molten metal, a

single row of contacting, substantially identical rectanguar brickssimilarly disposed in align-' ment, whereby the surfaces of the bricksof each row are substantially flush, a similarly. formed and disposedsingle row of bricks in contact with,

but staggered with respect to, said first-named row, the contactingsurfaces of the bricks com-' prising each rowhaving opposed rectangularrecesses providing keyways extending at right angles to said row, and arectangular key disposed to extend between each of the opposedrectangular recesses, the said opposed rectangular recesses beingdisposed remotely with respect to the surface of the hearth, whereby themajor portion of the bricks'of the hearth may be eroded by contacttherewith of the molten metal without disturbing the keying Provided bythe keyways and keys aforesaid.

. WILLIAM REX MCLAIN.

